This was our 8th trip to St Martin and one of the most enjoyable. I’ll do this trip report by topic so just skip those that don’t interest you.

TRAVEL was not problem other than worrying about getting snowed in at Atlanta. We fly FF tickets via Delta to San Juan, overnight at the Marriott Courtyard, and fly to SXM on the first AA morning flight. Flying mid week is much easier than on the weekends. Immigration was a breeze. No problems’ coming back except our luggage was left in SJU even though we had a 3 hour layover – go figure.

CAR RENTAL was from Mikey at Tropicana. He was a little late on both ends of the trip but nothing major. When we got to his place the car wasn’t ready – the previous renter had really trashed the door handles so Mikey gave us his personal car till ours was ready. Car was a white Carolla, had 47000 km, we added another 560, had a few bumps and scratches (just like I wanted) and ran like a champ. We have rented from Tropicana before and will do so again next year.

FLAMINGO BEACH RESORT where we own 2 weeks in one of the beach villas was in the best shape in years. For those of you who own there, Jules reported on many planned upgrades to include a fitness center with showers (specifically for those who leave the island late and want to clean up before they go), a covered portico for the front door, improved parking and continued renovation and upgrading along with increased security. Klaus is the new head of Security and was quite a presence at the resort.

WEATHER was a bit unusual the first week. The winds for 5 days were unbelievable to the point where if you sat on OB you got a free dermabrasion! I’ve done wind before on OB but nothing like those 5 days. Other than 1 day of a gully washing rain (I would hate to be there during a hurricane, the rocks and dirt that were pouring down the hillsides were pretty scary in some places) and a couple of showers the weather was excellent.

BEACHES, specifically Orient and Mullet Bay continued to be outstanding. We rediscovered Mullet cuz of the heavy winds at OB. That is truly a beautiful beach, clean, great waves, chairs to rent and has Rosie’s, a great place to get ribs. OB had lots of sand the first weekend we were there – not as much as 5 years ago but certainly more than last year. With the high winds that started on Monday the sand between the Perch and Pedros really washed out. While there had been 3 rows of chairs all the way down to Pedros that decreased to 1 row which stopped right around the OB sign. No change in the sand the other side of Pedros with Baywatch having 3 rows of chairs. It did seem as if the sand was coming back as we were leaving. They graded the road into Club O while we were there so I didn’t have to practice my acrobatic driving maneuvers to get to OB! Empty chairs both weeks, so no issues with anyone “saving” chairs.

TRAFFIC, through Simpson Bay, especially the week before the Regatta was absolutely horrendous. This was the first year we ever experienced anything of this magnitude, and we are there during the Regatta weekend every year. We would get stopped at the roundabout at the top of the hill and we would crawl the rest of the way. It would sometimes take us 45 minutes to get to the Flamingo. There was an article in the Herald that the government had purchased the Midas place at the bottom of the hill for $224,000 and was in the process of trying to buy other properties so they could put a roundabout at the bottom of the hill. But it wasn’t just the intersection at the bottom of the hill, it really was about the volume of cars on the road. Traffic in Marigot was much lighter than I remembered.

RESTARUNTS we visited were every bit as good as last year. I don’t have that info organized so I will do a separate restaurant report for those of you who might be interested. We went to a couple of new ones and also back to some old favorites.

FRIENDS BOTH OLD AND NEW continue to make SXM a special place. Met up with Buzz and Mary Lou the first night on island, what a fabulous villa they rented. Marsha and Jerry are both beach and dinner companions. Frank and Theresa struck up a conversation by commenting they had seen us on OB for a couple of years. Frank had a very unique method to lighting a cigarette on a windy beach!

SHOPPING at DK Gems was very profitable for Deepti. I am extremely happy with all of my purchases and am the envy of many when they catch a glint off my new tennis bracelet! Deepti and Jeff were delightful to work with and I will definitely be returning. Don was so happy with his Heinekens he thought we had only been there for less than 1 hour. It was really closer to 2 1/2! I also bought some Venetian glass jewelry in Marigot at Murano’s, which is next to Tropicana. I don’t remember them from last year and they had some beautiful and unique pieces. Vie Privee is another favorite of ours and once again I was able to buy some leather pieces.

TTOL PARTY at BBB was a blast. If I mention names I will forget someone so let me apologize up front. But I must tell you it was really fun to see everyone again, Sue and Augie, Sheila, Gretchen, Wendell, Cheryl and Ted, Kevin, Beverly, Susan and many others. This was the 4th or 5th year we have all gotten together and it really is something I look forward to doing.

TELEPHONE service is arranged thru Cellular One. For $10 they will activate your personal cell phone – we have a Nokia and then you buy a phone card which you can get all over the Dutch side at least. Calls were $1/minute to the US, .53 on the Dutch side and .67 to the French side. Excellent service all over the island. Just have to stop in on your last day for them to program you cell back to the original settings.

INERNET access was obtained at Mailboxes in Simpson Bay. $2/30 minutes from1800-2000.

CASINOS were not kind to us this year. We played blackjack at Atlantis and Hollywood. After 2200 you can buy in once at Atlantis and get a 10% match. No match coupons for Hollywood that I could find.

MISC OBSERVATIONS & COMMENTS
• The new boardwalk in P’burg is fabulous, especially around the Sint Rose Arcade. Really adds to the ambiance.
• The Hogs were outstanding. We had read they were coming off a cruise ship and were at SSBB when they roared up. I do have pictures which I will post at some point.
• We had the unique experience of getting stopped by a funeral procession in Cul de Sac. I would have taken a picture but felt it would have been way too tacky. The procession consisted of marching drummers, tons of folks carrying the flowers and wreaths, the family, the hearse and scads of people, all on foot.
• There is a sign up for the Paradise Mall in Simpson Bay and they have started adding on to the casino. I have no clue what is going in there but I just don’t see how the road can handle any more traffic.
• Etna ice cream is still the best ever!
• I wish they would paint the speed bumps on the Dutch side.
• Bought our liquor at Cost U Less and Rams – really good prices
• They were dredging the harbor cuz one of the cruise ships hit the bottom
• We were there for the Queen Mary – she was very impressive as we came down the hill by the Belair, less so when viewed from Taloula Mangos as she was anchored so far out
• New high speed hydrofoil service starting out of P’burg, geared towards the cruise ship passengers. $50 to Anguilla and they will also go to St Barth’s but no price was mentioned.
• We never made it to Anguilla or the butterfly farm, we keep on saying we will but it is now 8 years and we haven’t!
• Does anyone know anything about the second road that is cut into Cay Hill? Looks like a dirt road and I was never brave enough to give it a try

I think I have hit all the high points of our trip. I am still influenced by the island, nothing is bugging me at work yet and everything still is in the “no problem” category. We are going to try to sneak in another trip in November. We had a great time and I can hardly wait to go back.